


in sickness (and in health)

by RenWen17



Category: SEVENTEEN (Band)
Genre: Appendicitis, Fluff, Hospitals, How Do I Tag, Hurt/Comfort, Jihoon gets his appendix out :(, Lee Seokmin | DK is a Good Boyfriend, M/M, Minor Jeon Wonwoo/Kwon Soonyoung | Hoshi, Sickfic, generic title is generic hhhhhh, i think?????
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-10-22
Updated: 2019-10-22
Packaged: 2020-12-28 15:47:16
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,363
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21139172
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/RenWen17/pseuds/RenWen17
Summary: a present for hobiyah, who asked for a small sickfic after seventeen's liev!! I did my best, hope you like it 💖💖💖





	in sickness (and in health)

**Author's Note:**

  * For [](https://archiveofourown.org/gifts), [hopeboos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/hopeboos/gifts).

Seokmin hummed softly, his tongue poking out a little.

_ Did Jihoon want the vanilla or coconut flavor almond milk? _ He couldn’t remember. It was probably better to grab both, he figured, cracking open the display case.

His phone rang, Jihoon’s latest musical experiment jingling happily from his pocket. Ah — he could just ask Jihoon! He’d probably called because he knew Seokmin would forget, he thought fondly.

“Hoonie!” Seokmin greeted cheerfully, closing the case to lean against it. “I can’t remember if you wanted me to buy vanilla almond milk, or…”

“Sir?” an unfamiliar woman’s voice said from the speaker, and Seokmin’s stomach dropped to right around his knees. “This is St. Michael’s Hospital. Am I speaking to Seokmin Lee?”

“Yeah,” Seokmin managed, his knuckles white around the handle of the grocery cart. “What’s — what happened?”

The voice sounded sympathetic, which made everything ten times worse. “Your partner, Jihoon, was just brought into our emergency room. You’re listed as his emergency contact.”

Seokmin was running before she finished the sentence, abandoning his full cart. “Tell him I’m coming,” he pleaded. “I — do you know what’s wrong?” His stupid fingers wouldn’t get his stupid key into the lock of his stupid car, and he nearly sobbed out loud.

“All we know is that he’s unconscious and running a dangerously high fever,” the woman replied, and Seokmin could hear her shuffling papers. “The doctor will be ordering blood tests.”

“I’ll be right there,” Seokmin said, finally getting the keys into the ignition. “If — if he wakes up, please tell him I’m coming.”

“Of course, sir,” the woman said. “Do you need the address?”

“No, I’ve been there before.” Seokmin had never realized how long it took to get out of the Safeway parking lot until now. “Thank you.” He didn’t wait for the woman to speak again before hanging up, carelessly tossing his phone onto the passenger seat.

Jihoon. In the hospital. Seokmin blinked furiously, trying not to cry, and resisted the urge to press down harder on the gas pedal; it wouldn’t do Jihoon any favors to have him show up in an ambulance. One-handed, he fumbled for his phone again, thumbing the home button.

“Call Soonyoung,” he ordered, and dropped the phone back onto the seat.

_ Calling Soonyoung… _

“Hey, wassup bro?” Soonyoung’s voice was cheerful and extremely loud, and Seokmin winced.

“Jihoon’s in the hospital.” He felt a little guilty putting it so bluntly like that, but he didn’t have  _ time _ for niceties. “Can you tell Wonwoo I won’t be making it to my shift tonight?”

“Oh, shit, dude,” Soonyoung said, sounding more than appropriately cowed. “Yeah, of course. Christ, I hope everything’s okay.” There was a fumbling noise, and then Soonyoung was yelling, slightly muted as if he was covering the mic with one hand. “WONWOO! Seokmin’s got a family emergency, he can’t come to his shift!”

An indistinct noise, and Soonyoung spoke again. “He’s got the message. Stay safe, okay?”

Seokmin smiled weakly, blinking away another wave of tears. “Thanks so much. I owe you.”

“Ey, no way,” Soonyoung scolded. “Just make sure you and Hoonie are safe, got it?”

The call disconnected, leaving Seokmin in terrible silence for the rest of the drive.

The emergency room was mostly empty — it was a weekday, after all, Seokmin figured. He probably looked nearly insane, charging in at top speed the way he was.

“Jihoon Lee,” he gasped out when he made it to the front desk, leaning heavily on the polished wood. “My — my partner. He’s here?” He hated the way it sounded like a question.

The receptionist gave him a kind smile. “I’m assuming you’re Seokmin? He’s been asking for you since he came in. I just need to see some ID, and you can go to him right away.”

Seokmin fumbled his wallet from his pocket, not bothering to pull out his driver’s license, instead just plopping the whole wallet on the counter.

The receptionist smiled and pushed the wallet back. “Please take a seat, Mr Lee’s doctor will be out in a moment to show you to your partner.”

He stumbled over to the row of chairs, his knees wobbling dangerously, and all but collapsed into the closest chair. With nothing to do but wait, he pulled out his phone to text Soonyoung.

_ in the er. hoonie’s doctor is coming to get me soon, _ he typed with shaking fingers.

Soonyoung replied immediately; maybe he was waiting for the update.

_ that’s grsta seoku _

_ *great _

_ wonu says no wor k for a weekj _

_ week _

_ he says keep hooni esafe n come bakc to work whem hoonie doenst need u to hepl him piss anymore _

_ <3 _

_ he’ll givew u some p aid vacay _

Seokmin laughed wetly, wiping at his eyes. Soonyoung’s texting habits were disastrous, but he wouldn’t trade Soonyoung’s broken misspelled messages for the world right now.

A navy-scrubbed doctor stepped out, a clipboard in one hand. “Seokmin Lee? Come on inside, your partner’s eager to see you.”

“Is he okay?” Seokmin asked anxiously, scrambling ungracefully to his feet. He fumbled his phone and barely managed to catch it before it hit the floor, his face burning with embarrassment.

“Well, he woke up, though he’s in a considerable amount of pain, and we’re still waiting on the blood tests,” the doctor explained as he led Seokmin through the emergency room, navigating past countless curtained-off areas. “We suspect it may be appendicitis.”

Before Seokmin could ask any further questions, there was a hideous retching noise from the curtained area they were in front of, and the doctor winced. “That would be him,” he said lowly. He pushed aside the curtain, motioning Seokmin to stay put. “Jihoon? Your partner is here, would you like to see him?”

He was answered with another awful retch, and turned back, smiling sardonically. “He nodded so hard he vomited again,” he said. “Go on in, I’ll get a nurse to collect the bag in a moment.”

Jihoon looked very small on the hospital bed for some reason, pale and shaking and clutching a green plastic bag half full of vomit. Wires trailed into his hospital gown, keeping track of his heartbeat, and he had a tube sticking into his arm.

“Seok,” he rasped, reaching out with one hand. “Fuck.”

Seokmin laughed wetly, easing himself into the single chair next to the bed. “Hey, sweetie,” he murmured, wrapping his fingers around Jihoon’s. “How are you doing?” He didn’t really need to ask, he figured; Jihoon had never looked this wretched in the six years they’d known each other. For fuck’s sake, he was in a hospital bed.

It made Jihoon smile, though. “Been better,” he said wryly. “Feels a bit like I’ve been stabbed.”

“I’m sorry,” Seokmin said, at a loss for what else to say. “The doctor said you might have appendicitis.”

Jihoon grimaced. “Fun. At least I can only have that once, though.” He leaned over with a wince, nuzzling his head into Seokmin’s shoulder. “You’ll wait for me until I come out of surgery, right?”

Seokmin smiled a little, taking the opportunity to run his hand through Jihoon’s frazzled hair. “Of course I will,” he replied. “And until you have to go in, if you like, and while you’re recovering. Wonwoo gave me a week of vacation time to look after you.”

Jihoon made a face against Seokmin’s shoulder. “Wonwoo’s too nice,” he grumbled.

They sat in silence for several minutes; Jihoon in too much pain to talk, and Seokmin at a loss for what to say. When the doctor came back in, Seokmin’s head snapped up so fast he heard his neck crack.

“We’ll be taking Jihoon in for surgery now,” the doctor said, forestalling the question on the tip of Seokmin’s tongue. “The imaging came back positive for appendicitis. Seokmin, if you like, I can have a nurse escort you to the surgery waiting room.”

Seokmin could only nod, a painful lump sticking in his throat. “Is it — how high are the risks for this surgery?” he asked, separating from Jihoon with difficulty. He sounded awfully pitiful even to himself.

The doctor gave him a kindly smile. “Almost zero,” he assured them. “This is an extremely routine procedure, most of our surgeons could do it in their sleep.” A nurse came in, trailing a gurney, and the doctor had to turn away to help Jihoon up onto it.

Jihoon clung to Seokmin’s hand for as long as he possibly could.

“Kihyun, could you bring Seokmin here to the surgery waiting room once handoff is done?” the doctor said as the nurse started to wheel Jihoon out. “I’m sure he’s eager to get out of the ER.”

The nurse, a petite man in Hamtaro-patterned scrubs, nodded, smiling. “Of course. I’m glad you got here before we had to bring him to surgery, Seokmin.”

“See you later,” Jihoon mumbled. His hands were clearly shaking where they laid at his sides.

“Can I —” Seokmin blurted, lurching forward in an aborted movement to chase the gurney. Everyone halted briefly, and he swallowed hard, ears burning. “Can I give him a kiss before he goes in? For — for good luck,” he finished lamely.

“Of course,” the doctor said, looking like he was fighting a smile.

Seokmin bent over the gurney, blushing; Jihoon had made to sit up, but fell back with a hiss of pain.

“I feel like Sleeping Beauty,” Jihoon chuckled, warm air ghosting over Seokmin’s lips.

“Except this kiss is for before you go to sleep,” Seokmin replied softly. He ducked his head just enough to press a soft kiss to Jihoon’s chapped, bitten lips, eyes closed. “Good luck, my sleeping beauty,” he whispered. “I’ll be there when you wake up, I promise.”

“You better give me a real kiss when that happens, too,” Jihoon ordered as Seokmin straightened up. “If I could move without excruciating pain, I’d pull you back down right now, coward.”

Seokmin laughed, waving as Kihyun and the doctor pulled the gurney away. “Decency, Hoonie,” he teased. “I love you. Good luck.”

“I have no say in it,” Jihoon grumbled, and then he was out of earshot, lost in the bustle of the emergency department. Seokmin tracked him by the top of his IV pole for as he could, but eventually that too was gone.

Kihyun came back a few minutes later, a smiling nurse in pink scrubs behind him. “Handoff’s finished. Jeonghan here is going to take you to the surgery waiting centre,” he explained. “You can call a friend to keep you company, too, if you need it; the surgery should take about an hour.”

~*~

The doctor who did Jihoon’s surgery came out into the waiting room exactly one hour and forty-three minutes later, smiling. “You must be Seokmin,” he greeted, reaching out to shake Seokmin’s hand. “My name is Doctor Seungcheol Choi, I’m Jihoon’s surgeon.”

“How did it go?” Seokmin asked anxiously. Soonyoung had phoned him to check up twenty minutes earlier, but he’d mostly been alone in the waiting room.

Dr. Choi heaved a tired breath. “His appendix ruptured during surgery, which is why it took so long, but we cleaned everything out and there should be no complications. He’s in the recovery room now, if you want to see him.”

Seokmin was on his feet before the doctor could finish his sentence. “Please,” he all but begged.

_ He’ll be loopy for a bit after surgery, _ the nurse had warned him when he’d made Seokmin sit down in the waiting room and forced a bottle of Powerade into his hand.  _ Be gentle. _

_ Of course _ , Seokmin had said.

In the recovery room, Jihoon was peacefully asleep, IV drip-drip-dripping saline fluids and probably some medicine into his veins. He was still wearing an ugly hospital gown, but his hair had been combed a bit, and the blankets covered him up to his mid-chest.

Seokmin leaned against the bed, pressing Jihoon’s hand to his face, and finally let himself cry until he couldn’t any more.

He woke up with Jihoon’s nimble fingers stroking through his hair, and his raw voice crooning a soft tune.

“Good morning, sleeping beauty,” Jihoon teased gently when Seokmin sat up, dazed. “You fell asleep. I didn’t let the nurse wake you up, though.”

“Oh,” Seokmin said dumbly. “I meant to be awake when you woke up.”

Jihoon grinned, his eyes still a little foggy. “Eh, I was super weird. Kinda glad you didn’t see that.” He pulled an exaggerated face, but it regressed into a smile within seconds. “Making you drive me home from getting my wisdom teeth out was bad enough.”

Jihoon grumbled a bit during the switch from surgery recovery to his private hospital room;  _ my stomach hurts, this sucks, what do you mean I can’t stand up on my own for two days, _ et cetera, but Doctor Choi took it all with a good-natured laugh.

“You’ll make a full recovery, Mr. Lee,” he said, patting Jihoon’s shoulder. “Just as long as your excellent boyfriend here continues to look after you and make sure you follow post-op instructions.”

“I will, sir,” Seokmin felt obligated to put in.

Doctor Choi smiled, shook both their hands, and left.

As soon as the door closed, Jihoon turned to Seokmin and patted his bed imperiously. “Up,” he ordered when Seokmin only looked blank. “I have prescription-strength painkillers in my body, I just had a knife fight with three highly trained doctors and lost because I was asleep, and I haven’t cuddled you since eight o’clock this morning. Come _here_. Just avoid my right side, that’s where the incision is.”

Seokmin grinned, clambering up onto the left side of Jihoon’s bed obediently. “I don’t remember you being this cuddly after getting your wisdom teeth out,” he teased.

“Fuck you,” Jihoon responded with what he clearly thought was a great amount of dignity. “I was drooling blood and comatose for three days. Lie down and shut up.”

He kissed Seokmin’s forehead when they were settled, though, and wrapped his arms around Seokmin to bring him into a tight hug.

“Love you,” he whispered. “Thanks for being here for me.”

“Love you too,” Seokmin whispered, and watched adoringly as Jihoon fell asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> a present for hobiyah, who asked for a small sickfic after seventeen's liev!! I did my best, hope you like it 💖💖💖


End file.
